Direct To Consumer (DTC)

CHICAGO — Social media powerhouse Facebook is trying go beyond baby photos and cat memes by further integrating commerce into its current platform.

While many large and small retailers already use Facebook's platform to market their wares and enhance their brand awareness, no one has set up shop on the site until now.

Price, location and selection fade as real differentiators

Remember when retail gurus used to say that when it came down to it, retail strategy was all about location, location, location? Location still matters, but not as much as it used to. With the explosion of online retail, brick-and-mortar retail strategies are changing. But it's not just location that has receded in importance. Price and selection don't matter as much anymore either.

Washington, D.C. – Shop.org, the digital retail division of the National Retail Federation (NRF), named six new members to its board of directors and also reappointed three existing members. All nine members will serve two-year terms.

Lexington, Mass. - Stride Rite Children's Group has opened its latest “Milestone” concept store at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. The Milestone concept includes features such as shelves at varying heights so children can easily see all of the styles available, a dedicated “Fit Station” where children can get their feet measured and find out how tall they are by standing against the Fit Totem Pole, rainbow carpeting and a more open floor plan.

OMAHA, Neb. — Oriental Trading Company, a direct retailer of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys, novelties and school supplies owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has acquired brainy toy manufacturer MindWare Holdings.

MindWare is a manufacturer, wholesaler and direct retailer of what it describes as “brainy toys for kids of all ages,” based in Minneapolis, Minn. Oriental Trading Company is headquartered in Omaha, Neb. 

Englewood, Colo. – Michael Foss has been named CEO of The Sports Authority Inc. He replaced outgoing CEO Darrell Webb, who is retiring both as the company’s chief executive and chairman of the board.

Foss, a member of the board of directors of The Sports Authority since 2009, most recently served as executive VP and CFO at Petco Animal Supplies and as CFO of Circuit City Stores before that. He has 30 years of executive experience across a variety of verticals including retail.

ATLANTA — The HoneyBaked Ham Company is gearing up for aggressive growth in the Northeastern U.S., and plans to sign more franchise deals in areas where demand for the brand is growing.

Atlanta - A Tuesday report by the Atlanta Business Chronicle said that the HoneyBaked Ham Co. of Georgia will expand in the Northeast with 30 new stores over the next five years, and will make its international debut in Japan via a partnership with Toranomon Ham Co. Ltd.

“Demand is growing in the northeast region,” said Molly Kesmodel, VP franchise development at HoneyBaked Ham. “Strategically speaking, we have had a solid year thus far with signed deals in Pennsylvania, Alabama and Georgia."